|TOP|The Latin Bishop of Nazareth, Mgr Paulus Marcuzo, said last week that Israel must pull down the barrier that it erected around much of the West Bank if it wants to secure peace, reports Church Times.

The Israeli barrier cuts through Bethlehem, the birthplace of Jesus, and is the inspiration behind a Christmas card being sent out by the Bishop.

Bishop Marcuzo showed visiting members of the press the card last week which shows the Holy Family in Bethlehem, just six miles from Jerusalem, surrounded by the new wall.

"How can we have a future of optimism, peace and trust, if we build walls like that?" he asked, at the meeting in Nazareth on Saturday.

|QUOTE|"The Palestinian cause is holy. It is a big injustice, but we do not think that [terrorist] activity will bring a solution. The problem is in the heart. We have to train people to peace."

Bishop Marcuzo said that the future for Israel lay in education, adding that the Church’s schools, which are open to all, had the highest marks in state examinations.

“We believe in schools, to build schools and prepare common books in schools. But if you use books in school in which you say ‘Kill the others,’ there will never be peace."|AD|

Israel must remain a multicultural, multi-confessional society: “If not, we are lost,” he said.

The Bishop of Nazareth sees small signs of hope, however. He said that a “new atmosphere of dialogue” now exists between churches and Jews, brought about partly by the growing realisation of the importance of the papal document Nostra Aetate (“In our time”), signed 40 years ago, reports Church Times.

He said it was “unbelievable how much the Jews had celebrated the document”, commenting that “something new has happened”.

“Religiously, we have a wonderful flowering of relationships – but not politically,” he said, adding that Israel and the Vatican still disagree on the tax status of many church schools, houses and hospitals.

"Now it appears it is only a document without any application or any attempt to put it into effect. It was not ratified by the Knesset [the Israeli parliament]," he said. "We are disappointed."

Bishop Marcuzo also announced that he is to visit England’s Nazareth, the Anglican Shrine of the Holy House in Walsingham, Norfolk, in June.